Martin Eden

Martin Eden is a young sailor from a poor background who falls in love with Elena, a woman from a wealthy bourgeois family. Determined to win her and a place in her world, he sets out to educate himself and become a writer. As he pursues literary success, he finds himself caught between his feelings for Elena and his loyalty to the working-class life he came from, while the political movements of the early twentieth century stir around him. The story is a loose adaptation of Jack London's novel, moved to Italy and following Martin from obscurity toward recognition.

The film was directed by Pietro Marcello, who wrote the screenplay with Maurizio Braucci. It followed Marcello's earlier work Venice 70: Future Reloaded and 9×10 Ninety and preceded his later film Duse. Luca Marinelli plays Martin, with Jessica Cressy as Elena, Carlo Cecchi as the bohemian socialist Russ Brissenden, and supporting roles from Vincenzo Nemolato, Marco Leonardi and Denise Sardisco. It runs 129 minutes and was a co-production between Germany, Italy and France.

Made for about 4 million dollars, the film took roughly 2 million dollars at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 8,600 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 7 out of 10, from about 700 votes. A critics' rating of 7.5 out of 10 from 108 reviews places it somewhat above the audience scores.